Herd Immunity or Herd Stupidity

I was watching a discussion between Del Bigtree (producer of Vaxxed) and Jeff Berwick (of The Dollar Vigilante). One topic that came up was the introduction of mandatory vaccinations in Argentina, not only for children but adults as well. I later checked this out and sure enough, it's true although it may not have been implemented for adults yet. Here is the story:

Argentina Senate Approves New Law Making Vaccines Free and Mandatory

Argentina is taking the anti-vaccine movement — and the reappearance of eradicated illnesses — seriously. The South American country recently approved a new law, 22.909, that declares vaccination as a national interest and understands immunisation as a social good, according to the Argentine newspaper PERFIL.

According to the new law: “Vaccination is of national interest and we understand that research, epidemiological surveillance, decision making based on evidence, acquisition, storage, distribution and provision of vaccines, ensuring the cold chain, as well as its production, is highly important." 

Now vaccines and their application are free and mandatory, totally provided by the government in all stages of life. Being vaccinated will be necessary and required for procedures such as entry and exit of the school system every year, processing or renewal of ID, passports, residence, medical procedures for work, prenuptial certificates, and driver's licenses, as well as for the processing of family allowances. 

Why is vaccination now mandatory? It’s an obligation that the government created for the benefit of citizens and the community to prevent the spread of serious diseases, according to the law.

Pablo Yedlin, the law’s author, is a pediatrician and deputy for the province of Tucumán. Yedlin was worried about the reappearance of diseases, like measles, that were already eradicated and decided to take action. 

"Argentina now has a fundamental tool to prevent infectious diseases through vaccines. Undoubtedly, this law will expand and improve vaccination as a public policy for the control and prevention of vaccine-preventable diseases," said Lautaro de Vedia, president of SADI, Sociedad Argentina de Pediatría, to PERFIL.

According to INFOBAE newspaper, “it will not be necessary to have the vaccines to do certain customs and procedures, but it is important that adults understand that it will be required to have certain vaccines such as Hepatitis B or diphtheria and tetanus.” 

You can find more information about this new vaccine law here.

Of course, the authorities will not forcibly vaccinate you but life will become more difficult if you don't submit: no ID, no passport, no driver's licence and so on. It would seem that Argentina is being used as a testing ground for mandatory vaccinations. The country's president, Mauricio Macri (elected in 2015) is a vocal critic of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and is in the pocket of the IMF. Clearly, Pablo Yedlin (the new legislation's author) is in the pocket of Big Pharma.

In the discussion between Berwick and Bigtree, the former felt that population control was one of the goals of mandatory adult vaccinations, and the latter agreed that the needle was the perfect vehicle to achieve this if indeed that was the goal. Bigtree also commented that his movie, Vaxxed, had recently been removed from Vimeo and that currently there was a concerted effort to shut down debate about the dangers of vaccination.

As an illustration, Facebook is shutting down the largest anti-vax group on its platform on the grounds that it is "dedicated to spreading fear and misinformation related to vaccines". The group's administrator Larry Cook, "the reigning king of vaccine misinformation on Facebook may need to find a new home" according this news article.

The same article states that:

The past six months have not been good for the Stop Mandatory Vaccinations founder. In the spring, YouTube demonetised his channel for sharing vaccine misinformation. Additionally, GoFundMe shut down his numerous campaigns to raise money to stop vaccinations.

Australia, being the pathetically subservient country that it is, will likely implement a program of mandatory vaccinations as well. Disturbingly, this is the future. Along with Argentina, Australia is well on its way to being a Vaccine Nation:

Source

Here is are some comments by Andrew Wakefield on the subject of herd immunity (source):

Notes on Herd Immunity from Andrew Wakefield 

Herd Immunity is a term that is bandied around in defence of mass and mandatory vaccination. What is it and why is it important? 

Let’s set out a working definition of what Herd Immunity is at a functional level in the population: Herd Immunity is the presence of adequate immunity within a population against a specific infection that operates to protect those at high risk of serious infection and consequently, reduce morbidity and mortality from that infection. 

Now let’s separate out Herd Immunity, comparing what it meant in the pre-vaccine era compared with what it means in the vaccine era, using specific infections as examples. 

Measles: Herd Immunity in the pre-vaccine era 

When measles first enters a population that has not been exposed to measles before, Herd Immunity is zero and there is, initially, a very high morbidity (illness) and mortality. 

This occurs in large part as a consequence of high dose exposure. 

High dose exposure occurs because, in the absence of viral immunity, viral replication is unimpeded in the multiple susceptible human reservoirs in which it thrives. High doses of measles virus are transmitted from one person to the next. Added to this, socioeconomic circumstances contribute to high dose exposure. This includes high population density (easy transmission) and poor antiviral defenses (e.g. low vitamins A, D, and C). An example is the ravage of measles in Confederate soldiers amassed in barracks and hospitals in the American Civil War. 

Over time, as measles becomes endemic (constantly circulating) in a population with typical 2-yearly epidemics, Herd Immunity increases rapidly. Natural exposure leads to long term immunity. Immunity limits viral transmission and opportunities for viral replication. Concomitantly, developed countries have experienced an improvement in nutritional status and consequently antiviral immunity. Dose of exposure falls and a dramatic reduction in morbidity and mortality is observed. 

As a consequence of natural Herd Immunity, in the developed world measles mortality had fallen by 99.6% before measles vaccines were introduced. A fall in morbidity will have paralleled the fall in mortality (mortality is the extreme of morbidity). 

Let us look at an example of how natural Herd Immunity operated to provide age-appropriate immunity. 

Infants less than one year of age have a limited ability to generate adequate immunity and are susceptible to serious measles infection. 

In the pre-vaccine era mothers conferred good passive immunity on their infants by transplacental and breast milk transfer. 

This passive immunity protected infants through a period of vulnerability until they were better able to cope with measles through the generation of their own active immunity. 

The vaccine era 

Measles vaccine has destroyed natural Herd Immunity and replaced it with a temporary and inadequate quasi Herd Immunity that necessitates a dependence on vaccination along with an increased risk of severe adverse outcomes. Here are some examples of how natural Herd Immunity has been destroyed. 

The increasing Herd Immunity associated with natural measles and the accompanying decrease in morbidity and mortality, has been interrupted by vaccination. This makes it difficult to predict how vaccinated populations might respond to, say, a new strain of measles virus that has escaped the ‘protection’ conferred by measles vaccine (escape mutant). Because that population is not immune to the escape mutant we risk high morbidity and mortality from measles once again. 

Vaccinated mothers do not confer adequate passive immunity upon their infants (< 1 year of age). Infants are unable to generate an adequate immune response to measles vaccine and in the absence of passive maternal immunity, are unprotected during the first year, putting them at risk of serious measles infection. 

Unlike natural measles, measles vaccine does not provide lasting immunity and a substantial proportion of measles cases are reported in those who have been vaccinated against measles. 

Boosting of immunity using repeated doses of measles vaccine is not sustained and falls off rapidly. The only answer to this diminishing return that is offered by the regulators and manufacturers is to give more and more vaccines. The vaccine is highly profitable in terms of volume of sales, precisely because it is inadequately effective. 

Mumps and Herd Immunity 

Mumps is acknowledged to be a trivial disease in children; many do not even know they have had mumps the symptoms are so mild. Mumps is not a trivial disease in post-pubertal males where it can cause testicular inflammation and sterility. 

Mumps vaccine does not work. Protection is way below the 96% claimed by Merck and mumps epidemics are occurring worldwide in highly vaccinated populations. Merck is accused of fraudulently misrepresenting the efficacy of their mumps vaccine in order to protect their US monopoly on the MMR vaccine. I would suggest that everyone who has suffered mumps and particularly its complications despite mumps vaccination, has a valid legal claim against Merck. 

Mumps vaccine failure is associated with inadequate immunity following vaccination (primary failure) and rapidly waning immunity after vaccination (secondary failure). These factors mean that populations are at greater risk as they grow older. Since severe side effects are more common in mature males, mumps vaccine has made mumps a more dangerous disease. 

Natural Herd Immunity, that is, lifelong immunity following exposure of children to mumps in the pre-vaccine era, has been destroyed by mumps vaccination. 

Chickenpox and Herd Immunity 

The chickenpox virus (varicella zoster) causes a mild self-limiting disease in healthy children. The virus frequently establishes latent infection in the cell bodies of sensory nerve roots where it has the potential to episodically reactivate and cause shingles, a very painful and debilitating condition. Shingles can cause blindness. Historically, shingles was an uncommon disease occurring in, for example, people with immune deficiency due to cancer or immunosuppressive drug therapy. 

Reactivation of zoster is inhibited by an adequate level of immunity to this virus which, in turn, is maintained by boosting of immunity in parents and grandparents by re-exposure via children with chickenpox. Natural epidemics of chickenpox maintained Herd Immunity by ‘wild-type boosting’ (referring to the natural virus) of adults which prevented shingles in otherwise healthy individuals. This is no longer the case. 

Widespread chickenpox vaccination has removed natural Herd Immunity by preventing epidemics, eliminating ‘wild-type’ boosting, and allowing immunity to fall in individuals to the point where shingles is now much more common, occurring in young, apparently healthy people. Vaccination has created a new epidemic to which Merck’s response is, ‘we’ve created a market; now let’s make a vaccine to prevent shingles.’ 

-Andrew Wakefield